I was flinging daggers at a nymph when I fat-fingered my inventory list and threw a food ration. The nymph ate it and fell asleep. Anybody ever try this with a more dangerous monster?

Ooh, no I have not tried that, but that could be very interesting!

I FINALLY GOT THE AMULET OF YENDOR!

I was fairly bad-ass: 145 hit points, Wizard level. +5,+1 battle axe of leprechaun slaying; +2,+2 two handed sword of venus fly trap slaying. Really enjoyed wasting leprechauns on the way down. Had spartan cuirass which I've come to think is CRITICAL on the lower levels. The extra attack is occasionally provides makes a HUGE difference.

Made it to level 26. Didn't see too many griffins....I think I was able to kill one with whacks from the sword and a shot from a wand of lightning. Killed many jabberwocks and vampires on the lower levels. This was also very satisfying. Even killed a couple of dragons. Luckily most monsters attacked with enough spacing between attacks that I could recoup hit points. But on level 24 a griffin got me - I had full hit points and whacked him about seven times with the sword but he outlasted me. Damn.

I guess on the way up you get "Guild Honored" as the level. Nice.

I'll keep trying. The game is great, but infuriating! I'm going to try the food throw now!

Here's another one that I don't think has been mentioned yet. If you've vorpalized your weapon don't use another vorpalize scroll! Your weapon will be vaporized. Completely ruined my last character when I poofed my +4/+5 Battleaxe on dungeon level 23 Poor Frankenfingers.

LazySumo wrote:[*]If you are left with un-ID'ed gear you can go through it to try to determine what it does.*The above strategy was summed up well by Van Damage: When I arrive at level 8, I've had 7 levels to obtain better weapons or armor. I put on my best armor and wield my primary weapon, then read all scrolls, hoping to get armor protection and/or weapon/armor enhancements. If I don't find armor protection at that point, I read all scrolls I encounter as soon as I find them.

You obtained better weapons or armor in level 8? What kind of weapon did you get?

I have a suggestion for the strategy guide (I had to learn this one the hard way):

If you drink a potion of Gain Strength while your strength has been reduced by poison, such as a Rattlesnake bite, you will gain +1 to your weakened strength score, not you max strength score. You must first cure the poison's effect in order to gain the true +1 to your max strength score.

Example: You're bit by a Rattlesnake and your strength score is 17(18). You then find a potion of Gain Strength and a potion of Restore Strength. If you drink the Gain Strength first, your score will become 18(18). If you drink the Restore Strength first, your score will be 18(18), then you can drink the Gain Strength to make your score 19(19).

Horde all potions and scrolls till level 8 or 9. If possible, don't drink or read any till then. If you run out of pack space, drink a few potions but don't read scrolls yet. But make sure you drink and read before you hit levels in the teens, as that's when things get really serious.

Gather as much equipment as possible, but avoid putting or armor or rings or wielding the weapon until you're ready to read through all the scrolls.

As you acquire weapons, throw them at low-level mobs, like bats or kestrels. On a hit, it will tell you the weapons +#/+# stats. Anything with a negative number is cursed. Throw it away.

Keep a thrown weapon or stack of ammo with you the whole game. Throw weapons at mobs whenever you have a chance. You can keep your melee weapon wielded and throw other weapons by going into the inventory screen. While using a bow or crossbow does add additional bonuses to the ammo, I have yet to find one good enough to outweigh using a melee weapon. Besides, the turn you waste re-wielded melee as the mob gets adjacent is more valuable.

Once you enter a new room or hallway, throw a weapon into it. It will give you an idea of how big or long the room or hallway is. You also may hit a hidden monster, giving you time to prep, run, or throw weapons.

When exploring room, wield flaming or blessed weapons, as they add another square of vision in all directions. As soon as a mob approaches, swap back to your weapon of choice.

Once you reach 8 or 9, find a quiet room and drink all your potions. There's no real good strategy to this, as its blind luck. I generally start with single potions I have, then save the stacks for last. Typically, you'll have singles or the rarer/more potent potions, and multiples of the more common ones, such as healing potions.

Try to avoid reading scrolls until you have a good set of armor and a good melee weapon. The goal with the scrolls is to enchant your weapon as much as possible and hope for a vorpalize scroll. For armor, you want to enchant is as much as possible and hope for a protection scrolls to make it rustproof.

For armor, ideally you want one of the armors with a special effect; Elfin Mail, Shozoku, or Spartan Curiass. If you have a choice, the spartan armor is the best, as it will give you an extra strike about half the time you attack. This will make child's play out of tougher mobs like trolls.

As you get identify scrolls, save them to use on rings and staffs/wands. Rings take priority since you can only identify them by scrolls. Wands and staffs are second priority, but they can be identified by zapping a monster and wasting a charge. Weapons can be identified by hitting a mob, either melee or thrown. Armor is identified once its worn.

Wearing rings increase your appetite, so wear them with caution. Its a good idea to keep several beneficial ones around for different situations. A stealth ring is a must for levels below 20.

On levels 1-19, search every room, kill every monster, and find all the treasure possible. Once you get to level 20, it becomes a game of survival and evasion. Only kill things on the lowest levels when you are certain you can win before you start fighting. If you get cornered, stand and fight; you will be surprised how well you may do.

Horde paralyze wands and potions for levels 20 and below. These are critical to surviving attacks from griffins, dragons, medusa, and such. If you have to fight a nasty mob, pound away until you are about to die, then throw or zap it with paralyze. You can back off and heal or rest until your HP is full. Then you can either finish off the mob or run away.

There are a few ways to instant-kill most mobs. Potions of demolition and instant weapon will vaporize most mobs instantly. Instant weapon is especially good for this, as it leaves behind high-level bonus weapons.

Nymphs steal the last item in your pack, so keep something you won't mind loosing on the bottom. Items you pick up are added to the bottom of each grouping. If you want to take a grouping out of the middle of the pack, you have to drop all items in that group. Once you pick them up, they will rearrange on the bottom of the list.

As you acquire more stuff, you will want to throw away useless items. Generally, once you have a good enchanted melee weapon and armor, you want to carry a stack of ammo or a couple good thrown weapons. Leave behind all other bonusless weapons, as they'll just clutter your pack. Once you get rustproof armor, you can leave all other armor sets behind. Likewise, drop cursed items as accidentally wielding one could cost you a game.

Every item you carry should do one of these things:1. Keep you alive (healing, food)2. Allow you to escape (paralyze, confuse, teleport, stealth)3. Kill mobs (demolition, instant weapon)4. Help you explore (clairvoyance, mapping, disarming, light)5. Deal with conditions (remove curse, restore strength)

If you are about to die, you need to weigh your chance of escaping or healing. Use items to save your life (i.e., this may be your last action) in this order:1. Can I teleport away?2. Can I paralyze the mob and escape?3. Can I try to instant-kill the mob?4. Can I confuse the mob and escape?5. Can I heal myself?

In an emergency, removing yourself from a fight is your first priority. Second, remove the mob; no monster, no death. Healing yourself is last priority. If you try to drink healing potions while a monster is beating on you, you will only delay the inevitable.

Another emergency technique is randomly zapping the mob with wands and staffs. Yes, you may make the situation worse, but there's also a chance you may instantly kill or neutralize the mob.

A great last ditch escape method is to keep a ring of teleportation in your pack. Yes, it is a cursed item, but it will save your life. Ideally, you will want to keep a scroll of remove curse, too. That shouldn't be too hard, as you shouldn't have had to use one if you have been smart and methodical about identifying your items and not haphazardly putting on gear. Once the mob is about to kill you, and you are all out of the other options, don the ring and run. Hopefully your random movement will teleport you out of danger.

DharmaTel wrote:Horde all potions and scrolls till level 8 or 9. If possible, don't drink or read any till then. If you run out of pack space, drink a few potions but don't read scrolls yet. But make sure you drink and read before you hit levels in the teens, as that's when things get really serious.

I'll give you one corollary to this: If you wind up with a small stack of the the same scroll early on (within the first few floors), it's most likely a Identify Scroll. It won't hurt to try one, and may assist with making inventory decisions early on.

DharmaTel wrote:Once you enter a new room or hallway, throw a weapon into it. It will give you an idea of how big or long the room or hallway is. You also may hit a hidden monster, giving you time to prep, run, or throw weapons.

You'll want to be careful with this one, as the floors where this technique is most effective (15+) are the same floors where monsters that occasionally "eat" the weapon they're struck with lurk.

With the addition of Knock-Back for blunt weapons, war hammers are now better weapons than two-handed swords, even though they have a lower max damage. (I'd argue they were better even before knock-back, as you're hitting for a minimum of 6 damage compared to 4).

DharmaTel wrote:A stealth ring is a must for levels below 20.

I disagree with this, but my play style is different than most. See if you can find another way (that's available to you *every* game) to get the benefits of a stealth ring without actually wearing one.

DharmaTel wrote:Horde paralyze wands and potions for levels 20 and below. These are critical to surviving attacks from griffins, dragons, medusa, and such. If you have to fight a nasty mob, pound away until you are about to die, then throw or zap it with paralyze. You can back off and heal or rest until your HP is full. Then you can either finish off the mob or run away.

There's another (more plentiful) item that can be carried around that has an equivalent effect on monsters - and I guarantee that you're carrying this item every game you play.

DharmaTel wrote:Nymphs steal the last item in your pack, so keep something you won't mind loosing on the bottom. Items you pick up are added to the bottom of each grouping. If you want to take a grouping out of the middle of the pack, you have to drop all items in that group. Once you pick them up, they will rearrange on the bottom of the list.

This advice relies on a bug in the game (that is due to be fixed -- in fact, we thought it was fixed two versions ago ^^;;). The Nymph is supposed to steal an item that is not currently equipped, not necessarily the last one in your inventory.